Stocks Lower Thursday After Rough Day on Wall St.
Investors have grown increasingly concerned over signs that global economic growth is faltering and that policy makers may lack the monetary and fiscal tools necessary to stop the slide.
The volatility in global markets extended into another day, with major stock market indexes in Asia trading lower on Thursday after Wednesday brought whipsaw trading in the United States and a sharp sell-off in Europe.
The Nikkei 225-share index in Japan fell as much as 2.6 percent Thursday morning, and was trading around 2.2 percent lower by mid afternoon in Tokyo.
Australia’s main index, the S.&P./ASX 200, fell around 1 percent in the morning but recovered to positive territory, up 0.2 percent, in the afternoon, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.6 percent at the midday trading break.
Investors have grown increasingly concerned over signs that global economic growth is faltering, and that policy makers may lack the monetary and fiscal tools necessary to stop the slide. Those fears tend to focus on the situation in Europe, where shares fell sharply on Wednesday.
The rout has triggered a rush into government bonds, perceived as a relative safe haven in times of volatility, which on Wednesday pushed down the yields on American and German government debt.
Investors are also concerned about slowing growth in China. Beijing in recent months has sought to address the slowdown through a number of narrowly targeted stimulus measures aimed, for example, at increasing the availability of financing for agriculture and subsidized housing. Despite the steps, the economy appears to still be cooling. China also pushed earlier this year to weaken its currency, the renminbi — a move that tends to benefit exporters.
Source: NYT- Stocks Lower Thursday After Rough Day on Wall St.
